Fatal accident due to heavy fog on 69/75 shut down highway

DURANT, OK -- A four vehicle accident in Durant this morning killed one person and sent two more people to the hospital in critical condition.

"This is worst case scenario for us on these types of accidents," Oklahoma Highway Patrol Lt. Scott Hampton said.

Heavy fog in Durant this morning backed up traffic on Highway 69/75.

At 8:30, police say that dense fog may have prevented semi truck driver Kenneth Anders Jr. from Illinois from seeing clearly -- leading to an accident that ended his life.

Police say the semi that caused the accident, driven by Anders, was heading south on 69/75 when he hit two cars and another semi who were at a stop.

"First semi struck several vehicles and started a chain reaction in the crash," Lt. Chris Marcy with Durant Police Department said.

The four vehicle accident just north of Choctaw Road sent the drivers of two cars to Texoma hospitals in critical condition.

"We requested helicopter, of course, due to their condition, but the helicopter was unable to fly due to the fog," Lt. Marcy said.

The driver of the other semi truck that was hit in the accident is okay. He declined going on camera, saying he was too shaken up to talk.

"It could have been a whole lot worse and so far we've just got one fatality," Lt. Hampton said.

Lt. Hampton says in dense fog like this morning, drivers need to take extra precaution.

"About the best thing that you can do is reduce your speed and pay very, very good attention of what's going on in front of you because visibility is reduced down to the point that you may literally have to be creeping for it to be safe," Lt. Hampton said.

This accident caused traffic delays for hours afterward.

Durant Police have not released names of the other victims, nor whether the injured drivers of the cars are local residents.

Online Public Information File

Viewers with disabilities can get assistance accessing this station's FCC Public Inspection File by contacting the station with the information listed below. Questions or concerns relating to the accessibility of the FCC's online public file system should be directed to the FCC at 888-225-5322, 888-835-5322 (TTY), or fccinfo@fcc.gov.